Syno. Angelicus

buffalo · Post by **buffalo** » 26 Feb 2006, 20:18

Anyone have been able to get these fish close to breeding?
its said that they were never bred in aquariums except by hormone injections.
Anyone have any luck getting them to at least lay eggs etc.
These fish are not rare and are readily available if you search for them.
Where is a good place to get them online for a good price?

CEfire · Post by **CEfire** » 27 Feb 2006, 04:38

I don't have the link anymore but HH sent me an article which claimed that the Angelicus had been bred in the aquarium. They said it was important to have a thick mass of plants directly in the flow of a powerhead because this is where the fish will spawn and scatter the eggs. A lot of people on the forum cautioned me that this report may not be authentic though...

buffalo · Post by **buffalo** » 27 Feb 2006, 13:41

So far in my search that is the only information concerning breeding in an aquarium.
So its a start, although it might be false.

buffalo · Post by **buffalo** » 06 Mar 2006, 13:35

Have no one given a serious effort to breeding syno. angelicus????

CEfire · Post by **CEfire** » 06 Mar 2006, 15:30

I know!!! I was amazed also that no one had tried to breed such a beautiful fish, esp when a lot of other synodontis have at least been attempted. However, you really need to have a giant tank because I'm told that the aggression between the colony members will be quite intense at times. Needless to say, in a few years when I am planning on a very large tank, I think that it will only have about 5-6 angelicus.

Post by **Birger** » 07 Mar 2006, 03:20

Do a forum search ,this has been brought up before,search for darkangel

Just because it may not have been done yet doesn't mean people are not trying,I have different tanks of west african syno's all living quite happily but not much action on the breeding program,I wanted a challenge and I got it.

Birger

buffalo · Post by **buffalo** » 08 Mar 2006, 18:49

Did the search. That was very helpful it would be great to get updates on some of the information.
I was wondering if there is any evidence of angelicus picking a particular fish to brood (parasite/brood).
I know that syno petricola will scatter eggs but will also parasitebrood (Cuckoo).
Could the angelicus also follow that pattern.

Lemmonhead · Post by **Lemmonhead** » 09 Mar 2006, 23:48

This is an excellent thread! I was wondering this myself. I have 3 adults/near adults that I have in a 125 African community tank that eventually I will add to them to try to put a colony together and try some different meathods to breed them. I pretty much was thinking about mimicing the way I do the Petricolas for starters.

Post by **Birger** » 10 Mar 2006, 05:11

As far as I know parasitic behaviour is only connected to the Tanganyikan syno's and then only to specific species.
Most syno's would be egg scatterers and some of the smaller species might have a chance of being cave or substrate spawners but again this is conjecture.

Birger

buffalo · Post by **buffalo** » 19 Mar 2006, 13:49

What other synos are found where angelicus are collected?

toddnbecka · Post by **toddnbecka** » 21 Mar 2006, 06:43

Angelicus are a river species, though I'm not certain which other particular species come from the same locations. They are not parasitic spawners though, it's only the rift lake Syno's that have developed that behavior.

buffalo · Post by **buffalo** » 26 Mar 2006, 13:55

Things that are not easy to imitate in an aquariums.
We can adjust awater parameters such as ph,gh,temperature, nitrates , nitrites, salt content and a few others and I'm sure all have been tried to get these fish to breed in the aquarium. Constant water flow in one direction would be difficult to do in an aquarium.
I wonder if the female in aquarium even develop eggs were she looks gravid

toddnbecka · Post by **toddnbecka** » 26 Mar 2006, 21:12

I saw a custom setup for hillstream plecos that does a nice job of simulting river current. PVC pipes. run from lest-to-right, with sponge filters on one end, and powerheads on the other. There was also a HOB filter on the tank.
The main problem with breeding angelicus is the tank size required to house a group of them, as well as keeping the fish from eating the eggs after spawning.

buffalo · Post by **buffalo** » 27 Mar 2006, 16:24

Whats the recommended group size for 180 gallon tank.
My guess is for breeding purposes to prevent egg eating, small stones could be used rather than gravel or possible false bottom using eggcrate.

troi · Post by **troi** » 09 Apr 2006, 08:47

consider going to natural light or natural light cycles if you have to use artificial. I swear I saw breeding behavior in my decorus, when on fish kept another in a cave wiht him (or her). The kept fish had a back exit but stayed in the cave anyway. My eupteruses would go in to spawning behavior, chasing, then the female would go reamind the male she was there, fairly often. Got one egg once. Usually after a water change, which usually involved a small change in pH or temp, or both. I never turned on the tank lights but had huge eastern and southern exposures, not directly on the tank.

It takes a large tank, tho. When I pulled a chasing pair out of the 100 gal to a forty gal breeder, the male beat the female to death over night. I have video footage of the chase I guess I should post somewhere.

I am not certain just what I did that got the fish going.

troi

CEfire · Post by **CEfire** » 09 Apr 2006, 18:11

Troi,

I would LOVE to see that video if you could post it...

troi · Post by **troi** » 10 Apr 2006, 04:27

CEfire wrote:Troi,
I would LOVE to see that video if you could post it...
:lol:

Sure. Someday, really. It is huge, I need to trim it or take one good section out. And learn how to get it into my computer...

but, yeah, I will.

troi

buffalo · Post by **buffalo** » 29 Apr 2006, 13:03

Troi you have an audience for that video for sure. I saw an angelicus last week at a LPS it was about 9 inches long and fairly thick . The biggest I've seen so far. Wondered how long to get that big?

sidguppy · Post by **sidguppy** » 30 Apr 2006, 09:35

Given the growthrate of that fish, I'd say at least 10 years.

like some other larger Syno's angelicus grow fast up to 6-7" and then slow down to a crawl; to get them 9-10" or even the famous 1 footers (although the biggest I ever saw myself was about 10") you're in for the long haul.

granny's are like that too. ditto schoutedeni.

some others like decorus or eupterus just "floor the groweth pedal" as long as they're kept roomy and properly and reach their large size in just a few years.
why that is I have no idea whatsoever.

troi · Post by **troi** » 12 May 2006, 21:11

sidguppy wrote: some others like decorus or eupterus just "floor the groweth pedal" as long as they're kept roomy and properly and reach their large size in just a few years.
why that is I have no idea whatsoever.

I wonder if it also a matter of spurt and slow donw. I see, oh, maybe 8-9 inch, tip to tail, decorus all the time and it IS quick to that point.

But I've seen, once, several decorus almost twice that size in a 2000 us gal. aquarium. Don't know how old they were but the 12+ inch SL clown loaches in with them were about 14 years old. Or was it 14" and 12 years old? Any how, I saw them and they were amazing. These are the loaches in the same tank.

http://www.loaches.com/species_pages/cl ... arium.html